


The Sensational Truth

by out_there



Category: Sports Night
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-14
Updated: 2005-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-15 12:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/161008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/out_there/pseuds/out_there
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tabloids catch Casey with a mystery woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sensational Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/fandompoolside/profile)[**fandompoolside**](http://community.livejournal.com/fandompoolside/)'s "Choose your own adventure" challenge where the fic is written in parts, and readers vote on how the next part should go. Thanks to [](http://sangerin.livejournal.com/profile)[**sangerin**](http://sangerin.livejournal.com/) for carefully betaing and figuring out *why* it wasn't working.

When Dan walked in that morning, everyone was gathered around Kim's desk.

Everyone.

It was a sure sign that something was wrong.

Dan looked around, at Dana, Natalie and Jeremy's faces. Then he looked over at Chris, Will, Dave and Elliott. Kim was sitting on the chair. Whatever they were discussing, it had their full attention.

Shrugging, Dan decided it was time for answers. He stepped up behind Dana and tapped her on the shoulder. "What's up?"

"Dan!" Dana spun round on one foot, managing to elbow Jeremy as she turned. Jeremy doubled over and Dan guessed that Dana's elbows were pointier than they looked.

Natalie slung an arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "You okay, honey?"

Jeremy nodded. "I'll live."

"Sorry," Dana said with a half-grimace. "Dan surprised me."

Dan held up his hands in self-defense. "Don't go blaming your bony elbows on me."

"My elbows aren't bony."

Dan looked to Jeremy. "Are her elbows bony?"

"Sharp as a tack," Jeremy replied.

Dana glared at him, and rubbed her arm. "They're not sharp. I mean, maybe, they're a little bony, but they're not sharp."

"Okay, regardless of your bony elbows," Dan said, trying to step closer to the desk, "what's the fuss about?"

Kim tilted her head back and gave him an upside-down grin. "Casey made the tabloids."

"Casey?"

"Ya-huh." She nodded, and for a moment, Dan was distracted by the way that he could see right down her top.

"Casey?" Dan asked again in disbelief. "Our Casey? _'The pinnacle of male fashion is the Henley shirt'_ Casey?"

"Yep," Kim said, shoving a glossy magazine into his hands. "He's on page twenty-three."

"Are we sure it's our Casey?" Dan asked again, flipping through the pages.

"They did an ' _expose_ '," Jeremy said, making quotation marks in the air, "on ineligible bachelors."

"Huh?" Dan said as his brain rushed to very bad conclusions. He really hoped that didn't mean what he thought it meant. Because if it meant _that_ , it meant that bad things were coming. Bad things, like network executives, and hate mail, and probably an irate Lisa. "Ineligible bachelors?"

"Celebrities that publicly say they're single but are actually seeing someone," Natalie supplied and Dan's stomach did a quick nosedive to his ankles. "They took photos."

"It's probably not true," Dana said uncomfortably.

Dan took a quick breath and hoped that his face didn't look as pale as he felt. Then he realized that if the magazine had any proof of him and Casey, Dana would be yelling at him right now, not watching him with a nervous half-grin. That thought was reassuring enough to make his fingers keep turning pages.

"Since tabloids are such epitomes of journalistic integrity, I find that hard to belie--" Dan trailed off as he saw the grainy, color picture. It obviously wasn't the highest quality photo, but Casey was clearly recognizable. The blonde woman on his arm was also impossible to miss.

Looking at the picture, Dan realized that he had no idea who the blonde was. Somehow, that made her hand on Casey's arm just a little more disturbing. "Who is that?"

Dana looked surprised. "You don't know?"

Dan squinted at the picture, making out short blonde hair and high cheekbones. She was highly attractive, in that bland, fake, Californian-Barbie way. "No idea."

"There's another picture on the previous page," Eliot pointed out helpfully.

When he turned the page over, Dan was greeted by the headline "Ineligible Bachelors!", and a page full of overlapping photos. Most of them didn't feature Casey, but in the top corner, there was another one of Casey and the blonde.

And towards the left of the page, there was a shot of the two of them out at dinner. "What the hell?"

"That was my reaction, too." Dana cleared her throat, tugging at her shirt collar nervously. "I mean, if Casey was really seeing someone new, he would have told one of us, right?"

Natalie snorted. "He wouldn't have told you."

Dana's brows shot up. "Why not?"

"Casey and Dan only share upon threat of punishment."

"Hey," Dan objected half-heartedly, but his attention was still focused on the photos. Down the bottom of the page there was another shot of short blonde hair. It was mostly overlapped by other pictures, but he'd swear that was Casey's hand on her bare spaghetti-strapped shoulder. "This can't be real."

Natalie grabbed the magazine out of his hands. "It looks pretty real."

Dana looked over her shoulder at the pictures. "So you think he's seeing her?"

"He'd better not be," Dan muttered darkly. Suddenly all eyes were on him.

Jeremy tilted his head down and looked over the top edge of his glasses. "Why not?"

"Because," Dan said, stalling for time. _'Because if he is, I'm going to strangle him with my own bare hands'_ , wasn't something he could say out loud. But if Casey was seeing her, he'd better be praying for a short and painless death. Preferably one that occurred before Dan found him.

"Because?" Natalie prompted.

Dan shrugged. "Because he would have told me. He should have."

Kim smirked at him. "Is this one of your weirdly possessive friendship things?"

"No." Dan took a deep breath and then lied through his teeth. "This is a protective friendship thing. The last time Casey dated someone without getting my opinion, he ended up sleeping with Sally."

Dana frowned slightly, as if the Sally-Casey affair left a bad taste in her mouth.

"And the time before that," Dan continued, "he ended up divorcing Lisa. I serve as quality control for his social life."

"You just try to get all the cute ones first, right?" Elliott asked, sharing a grin with Dave.

Dan shrugged. "Something like that."

"In that case, this one slipped through," Will said, leaning over Natalie's other shoulder. "She's…"

"Yes?" Natalie asked sharply, raising one eyebrow.

"A very attractive woman," Will finished as he backed away from the magazine.

"Very attractive," Dana echoed with a sigh. Natalie shot her a concerned look.

"And yet, no one knows who she is," Dan said with a frown. "Does the magazine mention her name?"

Natalie shook her head. "They just call her an _'attractive mystery woman'_. Who uses the phrase _mystery woman_?"

"Second-rate tabloids?" Elliott scoffed.

"So, Casey's the only person who knows who she is?" Dan asked. Dana and Natalie both nodded. Sighing, Dan ran a hand through his hair. "Where is Casey anyway?"

"In your office," Jeremy said, pointing his thumb towards their apparently-empty office. "He was already there when I got in this morning. Hasn't been out since."

"Really?" Dan asked slowly, rolling the r across his tongue. He glanced over at their office, but couldn't see Casey.

"He's sitting on the floor." Jeremy managed to give the impression of smirking without actually moving his lips. It was all in the tone of voice. "Out of sight."

Dan pulled the magazine out of Natalie's hands. "I think someone has some explaining to do."

"Can we listen in?" Natalie asked, gesturing to Jeremy, Dana and herself. Kim and Elliott turned to him with expectant faces as well.

Dan held his hand up in a stop gesture. "No."

Natalie frowned. "Fine."

"We've got work to do anyway," Dana said unconvincingly.

Dan could see the threat of punishment looming in Natalie's eyes. "I'll get Casey to tell you all later," he promised quickly, and scampered over to his office.

Casey was sitting on the floor, just as Jeremy had promised. With his back against the couch and his knees bent up, Casey had a pad of paper balanced against his thighs and a pen in his hand. It was a somewhat awkward position to write in -- Dan knew that from personal experience -- but it seemed to be the only position where you couldn't be easily seen from outside. Between the table against one wall and the desk against the other, there was a reasonable amount of cover from passers-by.

It was a sure sign that Casey wasn't just working in their office, he was _hiding_. And that was a sign of a guilty conscience, which wasn't altogether encouraging. On one hand, at least Casey knew Dan had the moral upper hand. On the other hand, Casey had done something wrong enough to give up the high road.

"Good morning, Casey," Dan said brightly as he swung the door open.

Casey looked up and grinned. "Hey."

"Guess what I read this morning?"

To Casey's credit, his eyes didn't even flicker down to the magazine Dan was holding. "That's a bit wide to guess."

"Do you want a hint?"

Casey nodded. "Is it political? Professional? Fictional?"

"I'd say... personal."

Casey sighed and thought about it. "You got a letter from your mom?"

"No." Dan took a few steps closer, until he was staring down at Casey. Casey's vaguely interested expression didn't change.

"Um...it's not some new biography of Tom Waits, is it?"

Dan clenched his jaw and thought that Casey was very lucky that Dan had good self-control. At times. "It was this," Dan said, dropping the magazine into Casey's lap.

Casey chuckled and raised an eyebrow. " _This_ is what you were reading?"

"Don't take it as a fair representation of my choice of reading materials."

"It's hard not to," Casey said, clearly amused.

"Just turn to page twenty-three."

"Why?" Casey said, flicking the pages calmly. Just a little too calmly for a relaxed Casey. "Is there an article on Hilary Clinton?"

"Actually," Dan said as Casey stopped on the right page, "no."

Casey blinked at the page, quickly skimming over the short article. "Ah."

Dan felt his mouth open but no words came out. He closed his mouth and tried again. "Ah?"

" _Ah_." Casey flicked through the pages after it, and then flicked back.

"Casey," Dan said carefully, trying to remember that Casey had the observation skills of a piece of string at times, "you're going to have to start using actual words _real_ soon."

"Mmm..."

"That isn't a word either."

Casey sighed, and read over the article again. "They called you more attractive," he said finally.

Dan twisted his fingers together and tried to remember why it would be a bad idea to strangle Casey right now. At the moment, the only thing he could think of was that Bobbi was busy, and he'd probably end up hosting the show beside Steve _'Dull Is My Middle Name_ ' Sarris. "What?"

"Right here," Casey said, pointing at the page. " _'...McCall hosts the nightly sports show Sports Night with his younger, and some would say more attractive, co-anchor Dan Rydell...'_ "

Dan breathed deeply through his nose and resorted to his personal calming mantra. _I will not kill my co-anchor before we go on-air_ , Dan repeated to himself. _I will not kill my co-anchor before we go on-air_.

Casey frowned as he read over the section again. "Although, it's _'some would say'_. That doesn't necessarily mean that they agree with it. But it does infer that you're--"

"Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"You're missing the point of the article."

Casey snorted. "I think this is an important point."

"No," Dan interrupted, waving his arms wildly. "The point, the important point, is that you've been seen... _dating_ this woman five times in the last month."

"Ah," Casey said with a grimace. "It really is completely innocent, Danny."

"Innocent?" Dan asked, trying hard to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice.

Casey stared up at him from the floor. "You didn't really think that I'd... I mean, when we're...?" It was the expression on Casey's face that convinced Dan. It was a mixture of shock and hurt pride and apology that Casey couldn't fake.

It left Dan in no doubt of Casey's feelings. It didn't stop the urge to kick Casey, especially since Casey was sitting in such an easy-to-kick position.

Instead, Dan sighed. "I guess not."

Casey pursed his lips, absentmindedly tapping the end of the pen against his knee. "I wouldn't, Danny. Ever."

"That's what I thought." Dan sighed and looked out the window. "But I've been wrong about this type of stuff before."

Dropping the pen, Casey reached forward and wrapped a warm hand around Dan's ankle. "You're not this time."

"I need more than that." Dan gestured in the vague direction of the glossy pictures. " I need to know _why_ there are photos of you with someone I don't even know."

"I can explain," Casey assured him quickly, picking up his pen before it got lost under the couch.

"You can explain?"

"I can explain," Casey said and then sat there silently.

"I'm waiting for the explanation."

"Okay..." Casey nodded. "Um..."

"This had better be good." Dan walked around Casey and sat down on the couch. "I mean, I expect something more that the old _'she's my sister'_ excuse."

Casey swiveled around to face Dan. "I don't have a sister."

"I know."

"Ah."

"Casey!"

Casey blinked at Dan's sudden outburst. Then, he stood up, slowly stretched his legs, and collapsed onto the couch beside Dan. "You see, the thing is..."

"Yes?"

"Well…" Casey took a deep breath, and said the next sentence in a rush. "It's a publicity stunt that Melissa set up, and yes, I know you don't like Melissa but she is a good agent and the idea wasn't completely insane."

Dan stared at Casey. In fact, he didn't just stare, he Stared. It was intense enough to deserve a capital.

Casey managed to last a minute and then he started babbling. "Danny, I know it sounds stupid, but Melissa made some good points, and going on the occasional date with a wannabe actress isn't a crime. Or if it is, it's in no penal code that I've heard of."  
Danny kept staring.

"And it was completely innocent," Casey continued earnestly. "Well, maybe not from her viewpoint, but it was from mine. I explained to her that Melissa set up a blind date but that I was interested in someone else, and she took it very well. Considering."  
Danny thought about just giving Casey the silent treatment, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Considering?"

"Considering that it took me two dates to explain it?" Casey tried hopefully.

"Two dates."

"Yeah."

"You spent two dates with her _before_ mentioning that you weren't actually interested?"

Casey twisted his hands in his lap. "Nothing happened, Danny. It was just getting together for drinks, and then having a meal together."

Danny sighed. It wasn't that he didn't believe Casey… He knew from experience that regardless of how tempting Casey's kisses were, Casey still believed in the archaic idea of waiting until the third date. But it still rankled. "So, you spent two dates with her, and on the third, you told you weren't interested. Because that's the type of thing you'd have to tell a girl in person."

Casey nodded. "Yeah."

"That doesn't explain why you still saw her another two times."

Casey shrugged uncomfortably. "That's where the publicity thing comes into it."

"And the shark in Prada heels?"

"Melissa," Casey corrected absentmindedly.

"It was her idea, right?" Casey grimaced and nodded. Dan briefly entertained the fantasy of wrapping his hands around her neck until her face matched her bright red lipstick. "Not only did she set you up on a blind date, she also encouraged you to keep seeing someone you clearly weren't interested in? Have I mentioned how much I love that woman?"

"Not recently."

"That would be because I _don't_ ," Dan replied curtly.

"Ah."

"I know you're--" Dan paused. He was going to say too private, but changed his mind. "--not quite pigheaded enough to do this just to get your name in the tabloids, so what the hell were you thinking?"

Casey shifted on the couch. "Melissa mentioned…"

"Yes?"

"She mentioned rumors."

"Which would be completely unexpected, considering you're a national television personality and all," Dan said, rolling his eyes. "What happened? Did they do a story on your dissolute youth of gymnastics and foreign languages?"

"Danny," Casey chided gently.

"The press prints rubbish all the time." Dan flicked the page of the magazine. "You can't take it too personally."

"It was rumors of you and me."

Dan sighed and sat forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. That was a little different. "It was bound to happen eventually."

Beside him, Casey fidgeted but stayed silent.

Dan took a moment to mentally revise how he'd acted towards Casey lately, to try to work out what had drawn people's attention. There were some mornings when he wouldn't have been surprised to find _'I'm in love with Casey McCall'_ tattooed to his forehead, but they'd tried to keep it discreet. "So what were the rumors?"

"It wasn't anything… explicit," Casey said carefully, staring at the desk. "Just that we spend a lot of time together. That we seem very _close_. That neither of us has been seen dating for months."

"That isn't exactly incriminating evidence."

"I know, it's just… If Melissa is hearing these rumors, so are other people."

"But as long as it's not public knowledge…" Dan shrugged. "It's just rumors, Casey."

"She asked me if we were sleeping together."

Dan nodded at Casey's quiet tone, and then realized what he'd said. His mouth dropped open. "What?"

"Melissa asked me if we were sleeping together," Casey repeated softly.

"And what did you tell the walking piranha?"

"I told her the truth, Danny. I told her that I was seeing someone very important to me, and that I had no wish to make it public." Casey's shoulders twitched under his polo shirt. It was a small, subtle gesture of discomfort. It was a gesture that frequently accompanied Casey discussing his feelings, modern sculpture or the fine art of programming a VCR.

Dan's fingers itched to reach out and work the tension out of Casey's posture. Instead, he tapped a finger on the armrest. "You couldn't tell her it was none of her business?"

"I did."

"You did?"

Casey's face froze. "I tried?"

"There's a big difference between did and tried, Casey."

Sighing deeply, Casey ducked his head. "I did try."

"You did?"

"Then she pointed out that she was my agent and that if I wanted her to do her job well, I had to tell her the truth."

"You told her it was none of her business," Dan repeated slowly and Casey nodded. "And then she dislocated her jaw and frightened you into telling her details."

Casey stopped nodding. "No. I told her the truth. Because she's my agent."

"And she's scary."

"It was the truth," Casey said, waving his hand. "When did it become a bad thing to tell the truth?"

"It's a good thing to tell the truth. But that wasn't the truth."

"Yes, it was."

Dan snorted. "It was a version of it."

Casey's head flicked up and he stared at Dan. "It is the truth, Danny." When Casey was certain about something, he was very convincing.

Dan found himself thinking that in the wrong hands, self-assurance was a dangerous weapon. "The truth, huh?"

Nodding, Casey smiled confidently. "I am involved with someone _very_ important to me and I don't want the tabloids to hear about it."

Dan blinked, trying to think of something glib to say, but Casey continued, "Which is not because I'm ashamed of who I'm seeing. I'm happy. I'm happy and content, and there are days when I wake up and can't believe my life is this good. Sometimes, I find myself staring and thinking that I've never been so deeply in love in my entire life."

Dan swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. "No?"

"It's better for my career and it makes my life easier if people don't know. But that's not why I don't want people to know." Casey glanced down.

"It's not?"

"No, it's that..." Casey shrugged. "It's like finding Babe Ruth's glove in your attic. It's something wonderful, but you don't want everyone else to get their grubby little fingers on it."

"Huh." Dan stretched an arm along the back of the couch, behind Casey's shoulders. "Only you could make musty old sporting equipment romantic."

Casey grinned widely, showing at least twenty-eight of his thirty-two teeth. "It's the universal appeal of Babe Ruth."

"Who can't run," Dan pointed out, mainly out of habit. "And, Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"As sweet as Babe Ruth's moth-eaten glove may be--"

"Moth-eaten?" Casey looked confused. "Through leather?"

"I grew up with tough moths."

Casey grinned. "You must have."

"That doesn't tell me why you were out with this woman," Dan said, pointing viciously at the tabloid magazine, "five times this month."

"Ah."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Care to justify your actions?"

"Do I get a choice?" Casey asked warily.

"Sure. You get a choice between coming back to my place tonight," Dan said sweetly, "or sleeping in your lonely apartment."

Casey chuckled. "Well, if you put it that way..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to be forced to think of you as a woman." Dan nudged Casey in the ribs -- hard -- and Casey continued, "It was Melissa's idea."

"I'm almost tempted to ask how that woman heats her blood in winter," Dan muttered under his breath.

"She suggested that this was the best way to make it publicly known that I'm not single, without actually letting people know who I'm seeing." Casey sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "This way, I went on a couple of very public dates--"

" _Very_ public?"

Casey nodded. "There's a reason the magazine knew about all of them."

"So the plan is that you can say you're seeing someone, and refuse to comment, and now everyone will assume you're talking about the actress?"

"You see Melissa's point."

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes, I do." Dan rested his head on the back of the couch, twisting back enough to see glimpses of blue sky beyond shadowy skyscrapers. "But I don't see why you didn't tell me."

Casey flinched. "I meant to?"

Dan snorted in contempt. "Even for you, that's weak. Exceptionally weak."

"I did mean to." Casey paused uncomfortably, and Dan watched him out of the corner of his eye. "I kept waiting for the right time. I was going to tell you, but... It was never the right time."

"You wouldn't know the right time if it came up and bit you, Casey."

"I was going to. But I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"So, instead, you waited until I saw the article and jumped to the wrong conclusions?"

Casey ducked his head down, his brows furrowing. "Um..."

"You are a coward of the greatest proportions."

"True," Casey said and then reached over to squeeze Dan's hand. "But I'm a coward who loves you."

Dan sighed. What could you do with a guy who used extended metaphors to discuss his emotions, and then blindsided you with such a simple statement? If you were Dan Rydell, you tried to spend as many hours around him as possible. "You're the Lion."

"The Lion?"

"From the Wizard of Oz." Dan grinned. "You know. A ridiculous coward but kind of impossible to dislike."

Casey's lips quirked up into a small smirk. "Could be worse."

"Yeah?"

"At least I'm not the Scarecrow."


End file.
